Football: Getting mean again?

North Texas defensive tackle Richard Abbe (97), linebacker Zach Orr (35) and defensive end Daryl Mason celebrate with defensive tackle Tevinn Cantly (96) after Cantly sacked Troy quarterback Corey Robinson at Apogee Stadium earlier this season. UNT’s defense has shown signs of returning to form this season under head coach Dan McCarney and defensive coordinator John Skladany after years of struggling.

UNT showing signs of progress under Skladany

Hilbert Jackson charged up from his spot
deep in North Texas’ secondary last week and knocked the ball away from Florida
Atlantic wide receiver Alex Deleon, setting off a wild celebration on the Mean
Green’s sideline.

The junior cornerback and his teammates
jumped all over each other, secure in the knowledge they had just nailed down a
20-14 win with a solid defensive play in the closing minutes of the fourth
quarter.

Defensive coordinator John Skladany was
right in the middle of that scrum, one he saw as another in a long line of
small steps in reaching one of the biggest — and perhaps most important — goals
UNT head coach Dan McCarney has set for the program.

The Mean Green is starting to rebuild
its defense, a process that will continue Saturday, when UNT takes on one of
its biggest challenges of the season in a game against pass-happy Houston.

“You want kids to be emotional, express
themselves and look like they are having fun playing football,” Skladany said
this week while looking back on UNT’s win over the Owls. “It brings the team
along and brings the fans along when a team has some energy, some enthusiasm
and some personality. That happens when you have success.”

UNT hasn’t enjoyed much success in a
long time, at least not defensively.

The Mean Green finished sixth in the Sun
Belt in scoring defense last season with an average of 30.7 points allowed a
game, which might not sound all that impressive.

By recent standards, it was a huge step
in the right direction.

The Mean Green finished dead last
nationally in scoring defense in both 2007 and 2008.

UNT wasn’t quite that bad when McCarney
took over the program after the 2010 season, but he still didn’t like what he
saw.

One of the first topics McCarney hit on
during his introductory news conference was how important he believed improving
defensively was for UNT.

To reach that goal, McCarney said he
felt like UNT would have to undergo a dramatic philosophical change in the way
the program approached everything from recruiting, to coaching to the attitude
of the team’s players and coaches.

“Defensively, there was no question
about it,” McCarney said of the need for fundamental change. “Learn to play
with some toughness, grit, fight, have heart, be relentless, show up and make
plays.”

Hearing their new coach talk about the
need for a philosophical shift was a wake-up call for UNT’s veteran defensive
players.

“It was a change,” UNT defensive end
Aaron Bellazin said. “Coach Mac is a defensive guy. Being the head coach, he’s
going to look at defense more. It seemed like we always had the athletes but
never clicked and become a unit.”

UNT’s identity before McCarney’s arrival
was tied to former head coach Todd Dodge’s spread offense, one that sparked
interest in the program and helped the Mean Green post some impressive
offensive statistics.

Former UNT wide receiver Casey
Fitzgerald led the nation in receptions with an average of 9.42 per game in
2008. The Mean Green also captured national attention when it played an epic
shootout against Navy in 2007.

UNT scored 62 points at Fouts Field that
day. Navy scored more and won 74-62.

That was the problem. UNT never translated
those points into wins while getting away from its identity during some of the
most successful eras in program history.

UNT was where the legend of “Mean” Joe
Greene began, where Cedrick Hardman played before becoming one of the best
defensive ends in the NFL in the 1970s, where a solid defense helped lead UNT
to four straight bowl games in the early 2000s.

Even the nickname, Mean Green, was given
to UNT’s defense during the 1960s, when Greene was wreaking havoc as a
defensive tackle at Fouts Field.

UNT finished third nationally in scoring
defense in 2002, when it allowed 14.8 points a game, but gradually lost its
identity as an elite unit.

The Mean Green wants that identity back.

“The attitude has changed from recent
years when the defense was terrible around here,” senior linebacker Jeremy
Phillips said. “One of the main things coach McCarney talked about when he came
in was getting our defense going and getting us to the point where we had an
identity.”

The process hasn’t been easy, especially
with the constant turnover UNT has experienced on its coaching staff.

Skladany is UNT’s third defensive
coordinator in three seasons. McCarney did not retain Gary DeLoach when he took
over the program and lost Clint Bowen after only one season. Bowen returned to
coach at Kansas, his alma mater.

UNT also brought in Noah Joseph to coach
the team’s safeties after Anthony Weaver left after one season for a job with
the New York Jets.

McCarney and Skladany both credited
Bowen for laying the foundation for UNT’s turnaround by having the Mean Green
go back to the basics and improve in key areas, including tackling.

The changes UNT made in its strength and
conditioning program under new strength coach Frank Wintrich were also
critical.

“That’s as big a part of it as
anything,” Skladany said. “The players are bigger, stronger, faster and are
moving better.”

McCarney and UNT’s players credited
Skladany with helping them capitalize on the improvement in the team’s size and
speed.

Skladany was McCarney’s defensive
coordinator for 11 years at Iowa State and served in the same capacity at
Houston and Central Florida.

UNT caught a break when UCF coach George
O’Leary fired Skladany after the 2011 season, despite the fact the Knights
ranked ninth nationally in both scoring defense (18.3 points allowed per game)
and total defense (303.3 yards allowed per game).

McCarney said the chemistry he shares
with Skladany has been vital in UNT’s early-season improvement. So has
Skladany’s proven ability as a coordinator.

“He really understands the game,”
McCarney said. “It’s about dissecting offenses and finding a way to slow down
or stop the best thing that offense does. If you can do that as a coordinator,
you have a chance on Saturday. He does a great job of that and has really
rallied the kids.”

UNT’s players have only worked with
their new coordinator for a few months but have developed a rapport with him.

“He’s made a big difference,” Phillips
said. “He’s really smart, knows what he’s doing and knows how to scheme
[develop a game plan for] teams. Anything he tells me to do, I’ll do in a
heartbeat.”

The results have been impressive so far.

UNT has forced a Sun Belt-high 11
turnovers and ranks second in both sacks (13) and scoring defense (22.2 points
allowed a game).

Those totals are all the more impressive
when one considers that UNT has faced LSU and Kansas State, teams ranked fourth
and seventh, respectively, in The Associated Press Top 25.

“We’re definitely coming together,” Bellazin
said. “We got together as a unit and focused on making this a championship
defense.”

What is particularly encouraging for UNT
is the majority of its defense should stay together for a while. Phillips and
defensive end K.C. Obi are the only senior starters.

McCarney and Skladany say they are still
in the early stages of building a defense that can live up to their
expectations and have some key pieces to work with in young players like
sophomore linebacker Derek Akunne and sophomore safety Lairamie Lee.

The Mean Green won’t have a handle on
just how much its young defense has improved until it takes on some of the Sun
Belt Conference’s top teams. UNT played well defensively in a 14-7 loss to
Troy, a traditional league power, but has yet to face the teams that are widely
considered to feature the elite offenses in the conference this year.

UNT still has games against
Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and Middle Tennessee coming up. All three
are averaging more than 37 points a game.

This week’s game against Houston will
also present a challenge. Cougars quarterback David Piland is averaging 350.3
passing yards a game, a total that ranks fifth nationally.

UNT feels good about its chances against
Piland, Houston and the top teams in the Sun Belt due to the improvement it has
made defensively but acknowledges it has a long way to go.

“We are playing with more confidence,”
Skladany said. “It’s still early, but they are taking some steps in the right
direction.”

That is just what McCarney wanted to see
when he took over the program.

SIGNS OF PROGRESS

North Texas has shown signs of getting
back to playing solid defense. The following is a look at where UNT stands
heading into a game at Houston:

22.2

Number of points UNT is allowing a game,
a total that ranks second in the Sun Belt.

3

Number of times UNT has held an opponent
to 14 or fewer points.

11

Turnovers UNT has forced, the top total
in the Sun Belt.

13

Number of sacks UNT has posted, a total
that ranks second in the Sun Belt.

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